This spring, the Consortium for Biomedical Research and AI in Neurodegeneration (C-BRAIN) convened a landmark workshop in conjunction with AD/PD 2026, bringing together approximately 80 participants from across academia and industry. The session reflected growing global momentum around the responsible use of artificial intelligence to accelerate discovery in neurodegenerative disease research.

As a co-founder, major contributing member, and governing board member of C-BRAIN, The 10,000 Brains Project played an active role in shaping the workshop’s scientific direction and collaborative agenda. The meeting drew a wide spectrum of participants—from early-career researchers to senior leaders—underscoring the consortium’s commitment to building inclusive, cross-disciplinary innovation in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) research.

A key highlight of the workshop was the demonstration of early “AI co-scientist” prototypes. These tools, designed for tasks such as literature synthesis, hypothesis generation, and the analysis of previously underused “dark data,” were benchmarked against existing AI approaches. In selected case studies, the emerging systems reduced research tasks that traditionally take days or weeks to just hours or minutes, offering an early signal of their potential to meaningfully accelerate scientific workflows.

These prototypes represent an important step toward scalable, AI-enabled research infrastructure. Over the coming months, the tools will be further developed and made openly available to the broader research community. Their performance is expected to be significantly enhanced through training on Path-ND, the 10,000 Brains Project’s large-scale digital neuropathology resource.

Path-ND also received top ranking from C-BRAIN’s independent Data Valuation Committee, highlighting the unique scientific value of its high-resolution neuropathology data for advancing AI-driven discovery and tool development.

The workshop also featured highly interactive sessions where participants directly engaged with AI tools and experimental workflows, exploring new directions in ADRD research. Key discussions centered on foundational questions for the field: which scientific challenges should be prioritized next, what data are required to address them, how agentic AI systems can accelerate discovery, and what validation frameworks are needed to ensure scientific rigor and real-world applicability.

Importantly, C-BRAIN continues to build strong forward momentum beyond the workshop. The consortium’s Steering Committee announced that it has reached $10 million in committed funding, marking a significant milestone in its development. In addition, the accelerated timeline of Phase 1—now projected for completion in 9–12 months rather than the originally planned three years—reflects both the urgency and feasibility of advancing AI-enabled neuroscience research at scale.

For The 10,000 Brains Project, this progress reinforces a core mission: transforming underutilized neuropathology data into actionable intelligence and enabling the development of next-generation AI tools that can help drive faster, more precise breakthroughs in neurodegenerative disease research.